


Baby Comic Papyrus

by UndertaleTrashBin



Series: Gaster Family Tales [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dadster, Sans and Pap are twins au, comic papyrus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5665303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndertaleTrashBin/pseuds/UndertaleTrashBin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I love the idea of a Comic Papyrus fusion and since I'm pretty into the Dadster theory... why not combine them?<br/>In this fic you can look forward to: Somewhat angsty Sans trying to live up to what Gaster would want. Papyrus oblivious to angsty Sans. And, of course, the lovely Comic Papyrus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fusion!

**Author's Note:**

> Comic Papyrus was originally moofrog's(moofrog.tumblr.com), from the bromalgamate au! this isn't bromalagamate, but I totally appreciate the au, yo. This idea has been in my mind for a while, so I finally was able to get it out!
> 
> Also I once saw this amazing comic of Gaster with pap and sans as twin babies and it's also partially based on that?? If someone can find that let me know I’ll totally credit the artist it was hella cute
> 
> This fic is NOT a continuation of the rest of the series up to this point, and is an au.

Gaster was a scientist first and foremost. Everything he did or said was viewed from that perspective: the logical, ever analyzing perspective. Which is why he couldn’t for the life of him understand how an experiment with his soul had gone so... Wrong. It had been a fool’s experiment, and, despite being a royal scientist, it also wasn’t an entirely legal procedure. The dividing of a monster’s soul was dangerous, and medically inducing such a process could be entirely traumatic to a monster’s body. Gaster’s face was proof of this, but so was his two twin sons. Never in the history of monsters had there been twins before, it was scientifically impossible within the normal bounds of monster reproduction, but the soul Gaster created in his experiment was simply too weak. It had split before he could care for it, something that could have been avoided had he collaborated on the project with other scientists or even had an assistant, but despite the trauma it still formed into, not only one, but two monster children for each split part of the soul.

Gaster had bypassed most scrutiny of the illegal task because he had performed it on himself, but he had certainly gotten a tongue lashing from the entirely upset and worried King Asgore. (Of course over slices of butterscotch pie with his new baby boys in the king’s arms. The man was always a big softie, but especially for babies.)

He called them accidents, not really favoring one boy over the other despite one’s clear attempts at his attention. Many the parent had corrected him when he spoke of them that way, they would chuckle awkwardly before calling the boys miracle of science. Bah! Miracles his monster ass, they were scientific faults, even if they were good ones.

Of course that didn’t mean he cared for them less. He was their father, after all, and while he viewed their growth through life as a continuation of his experiment, he had found himself... Attached. Attached to each boys’ quirks. And whoo boy did they have a lot of them, and although they could grate on his nerves, he loved them. Sans was technically the older of the two, he had tried to come up with a physical form before his brother, even if it took a while for it to form properly. Papyrus was only younger by a few moments but definitely the healthier of the two, he grew and performed like a regular monster while often times Sans did not.

Gaster sighed contentedly, picking up his several notes over the boys’ lives. He supposed they  _ were _ biological discoveries that deserved careful attention, at the time they were almost seven, practical babies for how long monsters could live, and their forms weren’t quite stable. They shared a room in their house in Snowdin, the place was practically a giant play pen for the still toddling skeletons. Everything had to be designed with their safety in mind, Gaster hadn’t had a home until the boys came along but he couldn’t have babies around the sharp objects and the dangerous chemicals present in his lab, even if Sans and Pap ended up at his lab for most of the day anyway.

The boys were certainly no strangers to the lab, not just the one at their house in Snowdin, but also the large, shared lab designed especially for the Royal Scientist and his team. They had a specific room at the lab, a sort of lobby with a large play area so that the scientists could keep an eye on their children while still working. Gaster’s boys practically owned it, keeping them at his work was cheaper than a babysitter(What? They charge extra for two!), but it also allowed him access to the equipment to check up on them as his continuous experiments. The thought reminded him that it was nearly noon and he needed to check up on the boys, so he stood to stretch. He decided to take his lunch break early, a lot of monsters went home for lunch but bringing in lunch for three monsters would be a hassle, so Gaster was known to be out of office around lunch. It wasn’t like the current projects were demanding his attention, the core had been up and running smoothly for years, so he mostly spent his time on understanding the properties of human and monster souls.

Gaster made long strides towards the lobby, finding his boys at opposite ends of the pen doing their own things. He frowned, they usually played together, but it seemed that Papyrus had grown bored with his brother’s napping. Papyrus’s speech was still a bit unclear, they were working on it, but he certainly was forming words and sentences by that point. He knew Sans could speak, but he usually responded in hands before spoken speech, he would speak if it got inconvenient to sign.

“DAD!” Papyrus dropped some toy he was playing with in order to rush over on his still stubby legs, grinning up at his dad. Gaster grinned back and picked him up,

“Hi, Pappy! It’s lunch time.” He spoke aloud, comfortable in doing so since it was just him and the boys in the room. He had been doing his best to speak aloud with them, more for the sake of his boys’ ability to learn to speak more than hands. It was also quite difficult to sign with a baby in each hand. The room had a fenced off area for younger kids, but it also happened to have all of the cushions and blankets, so it was there that he found Sans.

Gaster leaned over the pen’s fence to reach for the snoring Sans, unable to reach him, he sighed in annoyance. He had been surprised many times over by the six year old’s ability to sleep through practically anything, unfortunately that also meant when he did wake it was often with a start. Gaster let out a snort, both amused and slightly annoyed with the snoring child. Papyrus went on in his arms about how much Sans had slept that morning.  _ At least he’ll take naps...  _ Gaster thought, giving up on trying to reach for Sans and gently surrounded the child with his magic, picking him up and floating him over the pen’s fence, only to find he was still asleep peacefully.  _ Whatever,  _ Gaster huffed, letting the boy float idly as he stuffed a squirming Papyrus into his jacket.

“Hold still!” That got Papyrus to pause, but only to grin at him and go on about what he wanted for lunch. All that Gaster really got was something about pasta. Papyrus talked with wide gestures and Gaster wasn’t sure but it seemed like he often mixed hands and vocal speech together, so he was difficult to follow if you weren’t paying him total attention. Gaster finally slid the tiny arm into the jacket’s hole with a sigh of relief, then realizing the lack of shoes on both of the boys’ feet. The boys happened to be the same size at the moment so they liked to mix match their shoes. Unfortunately, that meant they were able to fling them good distances away and would take them off whenever the chance arose.

{Where are your shoes?} Gaster signed, watching Papyrus become intent on watching his hands as he did so. The boy just shrugged. With a deep sigh, he let the boy down, Sans still slowly turning in the air while asleep as he searched through the room. He eventually found a shoe on a window sill, part way across the room, and the others were in different areas around it. He chuckled,

“Aimed for the window today, huh?” Gaster walked back over to the three year old and slipped a wiggling foot into the shoe without too much trouble.

“WAIT!” Papyrus snatched another shoe from his father, one of his brother’s but thankfully for the opposite foot than the one he had a shoe on. Gaster raised an eyebrow, and Pap spoke, “I can do it myself!!” He began stuffing his foot into the shoe, Gaster let him wrestle with the ties as he turned back to the sleeping Sans still floating in his magic. Gaster decided to let him sleep for now. He set him on the floor with his magic before sliding Sans into a jacket identical to his brother’s. Gaster set the boy on the ground to slip the shoes, one blue and one orange, on his feet. When the second leg fell to the ground with a soft thud, Sans’s eye sockets blearily opened. A grin grew on his face as he sat up, reaching his hands out in a grabby motion toward his father.

“hi dad.” The voice was soft and tired, Gaster couldn’t help but smile and grabbed Sans into his arms before he turned back to help the, still struggling, Papyrus with his shoe.

Most days he took them home for lunch whenever the River Person was available, it was easier than packing lunches and lugging them to Hotland on the morning trip in. That particular day he planned on heading home to cook a nice little lunch for the family, probably some hot dogs cut up into little bites. They seemed to like that lunch best, especially when paired with macaroni and cheese. Gaster felt Sans’s head fall against his neck, he shook him lightly, annoyed by the idea of him hitching a ride to nap on the way home.

“Hey, don’t you go back to sleep.” He reached out the other hand for Papyrus, letting the boy walk on his own as they made their way out of the lab. Hotland was a bit stifling in their jackets, but it was difficult to maneuver the six year olds into jackets on a ferry as small as the River Person’s.

“Hello, would you like a ride?” The River Person spoke, an underlying boredom to the sound, but they put on a cheery customer voice.

{Yes, to Snowdin.} During the ride, he kept hand on each boy. It wouldn’t be the first time they fell off, but it was hard to deal with freezing, wet little kids. The ride was short and dull, he managed to keep Sans awake and as the boat pulled to a stop, he set him on the snowy ground. Papyrus followed in suit, Gaster keeping a hand out to make sure he doesn’t fall.

{Thank you.} Gaster signed to the River Person politely, and moved to follow his boys to the house. Without his hand to hold, they were holding each other’s and trudging through the snow. It was... adorable.  
He walked behind them, the boys turned around periodically to make sure he was keeping up with the. The walk home probably took longer than it needed to because he didn’t just pick them up, but they had a little extra time that day. Gaster only stepped ahead of them to get the door, both boys padded in eagerly once it was open and kicked off their shoes. He kicked his own shoes off and followed them into the kitchen. Sans was helping Papyrus into his chair, but the chair was a bit tall for them. Gaster picked each boy up and set them in their respective chairs.

“How does hot dogs and mac and cheese sound?” He asked while getting out the pot.

“GOOD!” Papyrus’s response was enthusiastic, per usual.

“mm.” Sans laid his head down on the table in front of him. Gaster popped a hotdog for each of them in the microwave and put a pot of water on the stovetop to boil. It was then that he grabbed spill proof cups, filling them with water before setting one in front of Sans and one in front of Papyrus. He sat at the table himself to wait for the water to boil.

“SANS!” The one word Papyrus seemed to he able to say properly outside of ‘dad’ rang through the kitchen, and Sans raised his head in response.

“yeah?” He asked questioningly, truly a bit confused as to why he was being called out. Papyrus frowned,

“Don’t go back to sleep!” He demanded, causing his brother to laugh,

“ok.” He lifted his head up, sighing and stretching just a little in the chair.

“Do you want to play puzzles?!” Papyrus asked, clearly missing his brother when he had played earlier.

{Lunch first.} Gaster corrected, finishing up the macaroni and laying the food on plates.

“sure, bro.” Sans grinned at his brother, kicking his feet a bit. Their dad set ketchup on the table and served their plates out. Sans reached out and immediately grabbed the bottle of ketchup, flicked it open, and poured it over his plate. With a sigh, Gaster took the bottle from him, otherwise he’d just drink the stuff, and Papyrus made a face at his brother before digging in to eat. Despite being the sleepier child, Sans was not lazy when it came to eating. Papyrus ate like he was going to shoot up a foot, both were probably about to hit a growth spurt, Gaster thought with a slight frown.  _ They grow up so fast.  _ Lunch was pretty quiet, but fast.

They had a little extra time at the house before needing to go back, so after dumping their paper plates in the trash the two boys ran off to play. Papyrus dove for the crayons, but not before Sans took a few colors to use himself. Puzzles were commonly played between the two, but they were in need of a new book since all that was left was crosswords. With annoyance, Pap pushed the book to Sans who began evaluating the puzzles with a keen eye, crayon in hand. They worked side by side on separate projects, Sans on the crossword and Papyrus doodling a cute picture of their family.

“Brother?” The question cut through the comfortable silence and concentration. Sans didn’t even look up to respond,

“yes?”

“Do you have the green crayon?”

“... no.” The crayon was clearly in Sans’s hand, he was using it.

“... Brother! Don’t lie!”

“i don’t know what you’re talking about.” He continued using the crayon in plain sight.

“Saaans! I can SEE it!”

“oh? really? you should use it then.”

“OK!” Papyrus snatched it from his brother’s unsuspecting fingers. “I think I will!” Sans frowned and reached for it, only to have his hand smacked away by Papyrus.

“hey! i wasn’t done using that!!” Sans reached further for it, sliding on top of the other six year old to try and reach it. Papyrus gripped the crayon in his hands and sat up. Sans rolled off him in the process and sat back up to reach, pulling on his brother’s closed fists. “pap!!! no!!!”

“PAPYRUS, YES!” He turned and yanked his arms back, pulling Sans back onto him, shoving both of them back to the floor.

“stop! give it back!”

“NO. IT IS MINE NOW.” This was just the beginning of the wrestling battle that ensued, despite it still being mostly light hearted it was certainly a six year old all out brawl.

Gaster stood in the doorway, hands covered in dish washing gloves as he watched the boys fight. Just as he was about to stop them, in fear one of the low hp kids would get hurt, but instead their souls popped from their magical bodies, as if entering a real fight. Afraid they would actually hurt each other in a battle, Gaster began walking towards them.

“That’s enou-” The souls, instead of becoming battle ready, glowed obnoxiously bright, a line clearly showing where each soul had split from each other, but also from Gaster. Slowly, they merged into each other, overlapping and  nearly ‘clicking’ into place as they completely overlapped. They seemed liked puzzle pieces, but Gaster didn’t have time to consider it with the flash of light his boys were gone, and in their place was a single six year old.

“What the frick?” The skeleton boy, who somehow resembled both of Gaster’s missing children promptly covered his mouth at the curse. He guiltily looked down, “Oops, sorry Dad.”

“... Sans...? Papyrus...?” Gaster uttered in total confusion to his... Son? He guessed? The boy frowned and shook his head, as if confused with his own existence. With wobbling arms, the newly formed skeleton pushed himself up to stand, nearly falling in the process. He wore a mix of the clothes from his sons and his features reflected each boy as well. Gaster held put a hand for him to stabilize on so he, hopefully, wouldn’t fall over. Who knew how stable this form was?

“Comic Papyrus, Dad!” He grinned, an expression that was so reminiscent of Sans’s. Gaster sat on the couch, staring at his son unwaveringly.

{Is this not weird to you?} The six year old gave him a blank look.

“... No? Should it be?” Comic Papyrus frowned deeply. The gears were moving in Gaster’s head, he could faintly remember whispers of a fusion magic back when the monsters had fought the humans,  _ But that’s a lost magic...!  _ With new energy, Gaster stood suddenly and picked Comic Papyrus up into his arms. The skeleton was sturdier than Sans or Papyrus, but Gaster was used to holding a boy in each arm, so it wasn’t any trouble.

The River Person gave him and Comic Papyrus a strange look, but didn’t ask. Gaster practically ran into the lab when they stopped, frightening a few scientists just leaving. He passed through the Magic Biology halls, the section manager pausing to talk to him,

“Wow, Gaster, who’s the kid?” The doctor could clearly tell he was trying to rush to his lab, so she kept pace as he signed to her.

{Long story thi-}

“Hi! I’m Comic Papyrus.” He grinned proudly at the doc, Gaster sighing as her expression morphed into a mix of surprise and confusion. Who named some random kid after their kids?

{He’s Sans and Papyrus. They... Fused.} Gaster signed, unsure of his own hands as they did so. The doctor stopped walking and Gaster paused to converse with her.

“But... That’s a lost magic...”

{Exactly. Shouldn’t even be possible for monsters who haven’t even developed magic yet.} With that, he walked into his lab, the largest room of the building, and shut the door behind him with finality. He set Comic Papyrus on a bed that resembled a hospital bed, one that Sans and Papyrus were familiar with from regular check ups. The boy kicked his legs as he watched his dad rush back and forth through the lab, gathering the machinery and tech he needed. For what, exactly, Comic Papyrus wasn’t sure.

Gaster didn’t run any...rough, tests. No extraction of magic or anything. It might cause instability in the fusion, and he didn’t want to risk a de-fusion before he could test anything. It was plain on Comic Papyrus’s face that he knew what was going on and he looked conflicted between nervousness and trying to hold a stoic expression. He squirmed a bit as Gaster prepared the first test, recognizing the machine, he felt a bit relieved, still slightly uncomfortable.

The test was to get a reading on magic use, it was commonly used to analyze a monster’s physical-magical form, but in this scenario it could be used for more than that. The machine whirred to life, and almost in a heat-detector but for magic manner it focused in on Comic Papyrus’s soul. There was a dense, unstable concentration of magic along the seam of where Papyrus and Sans’s souls first split. The machine allowed Gaster to see the soul, and he stared at the image for a while before having the machine take a picture and print it out. He turned it off and pushed it away, not wanting to use up unnecessary bed space. He sat back in his desk chair, looking over the printed image in his hands.

Comic Papyrus sat on the patient table, internally arguing about how to feel. It came out as little murmurs under his breath, conversing back and forth,

“there’s something wrong.”

“No! Dad would let us know if there was a problem.”

“we aren’t supposed to be like this, this is bad!” Comic Papyrus’s voice rose suddenly, causing Gaster to turn to him suddenly in confusion, watching as the boy practically shivered, nearly in tears. His soul popped from his chest, souls wrenching apart and Comic Papyrus disappearing before Sans and Papyrus reformed.

“Oh, welcome back, boys.” Gaster spoke, voice betraying a bit of disappointment. Whatever magic they had accidentally triggered could be crucial to a victory in the potential war after Asgore broke the barrier. The two ignored the comment, frowning at the other and continuing the argument.

“Dad would tell us if we did something bad!!” Papyrus spoke, trying to encourage his brother and cool him off more than anything.

“not if he couldn’t do anything about it.” Sans pouted and crossed his arms. Papyrus just walked over and hugged him. Gaster crouched down to their level, hugging them both as well.

“stop.” Sans wiggled in the grip, “stooop. let me be mad.” The hug didn’t cease, and eventually Sans was hugging back.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Gaster pulled back to look both of them in the face, “That was a kind of magic that hasn’t been around for a very long time.” The boys positively glowed,

“SO WE’RE REALLY COOL?” Papyrus looked ecstatic, Gaster chuckled.

{Of course, but not just because of your magic.} He paused, standing up. {Well, I still have some work to do. Go play, be nice.} Gaster resigned himself to the fact that the fusion was gone for now, not that he wouldn’t push for them to try the magic again later.

“OK! C’mon let’s go-” a yawn interrupted Papyrus mid sentence, very unlike him, “play, Sans!”

“alright, bro.” The two slipped out the door, leaving Gaster to consider fusion magic.


	2. Experiments and Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comic Papyrus returns! This time Gaster finds his boys may be more helpful than he originally suspected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly life has been so insane lately and i have no idea when I will be able to do another update but I have two other fics for the dadster ideas/babybones stuff in the works. If you follow my work, probably The King’s Pupil- continuation of Skeleton Magic- will be out next.
> 
> mmm like my other fics very minor edits have gone into this so bleh if you find something feel free to point it out but I've been meaning to get this out there for foreeeevvvvveeeeeeerrrrrrrrr.

Comic Papyrus wasn’t a common occurrence over the following years. This was for several reasons, mostly since, despite their reassurances, Sans felt uncertainty in the magic. Gaster had tried to persuade the boy to give it a shot, and Sans  _ had _ come around to it a bit, but if he tried to outright ask him about it, Sans would just shrug it off. And each time Comic Papyrus  _ was _ formed it wasn’t for long, the emotions and magic  too unstable. There was also the fear that there would be an imbalance in the magic when Papyrus developed his magic before his brother, potentially making the formation dangerous. But Comic Papyrus fascinated Gaster, the magical imbalance was more of a potential annoyance that he didn’t bother bringing up to the boys, after all, Sans couldn’t be that far behind in developing his own.

It was a Saturday morning, the boys played in their room while Gaster was working in his home lab. They weren’t quite old enough to be home alone, but they were old enough to take care of themselves long enough for him to actually get work done in his office. Papyrus worked diligently in his puzzle book, but was quickly growing bored with the task as the hours passed. Most of his favorite ones were completed anyway, he left crosswords for Sans (despite his brother’s side of their desk filling up with the blank puzzles).

“SANS! Work on your puzzles! They’re going to waste!” Papyrus spun his chair, the swivel going further than he meant for it to, practically spinning in a 360 before righting it to face Sans.

“mm, maybe later bro.” Sans rolled over on his tiny twin bed, perfectly sized for him though his brother was quickly outgrowing the matching bed on the other side of the room, to block Papyrus out. Papyrus stood, puzzles in hand, and walked over to Sans’s bed,

“ARE YOU SLEEPING?” Papyrus was intentionally being loud, and Sans barely turned toward him and opened an eye socket.

“yes.” Sans muttered at before closing the eye and turning back into the covers to sleep. Papyrus sat on him, forcing a little ‘oof’ out of Sans.

“You can’t talk AND sleep!”

“you talk in your sleep all the time, bro.” Sans grinned into the pillow as Papyrus rolled his eyes,

“THAT’S because I’m so cool, brother!”

“yup.” Sans murmured, sleepily dozing off before hearing a noticeable tap on the back of his skull, “bro?”

“YES?”

“why is your book on my head?” Sans asked, unable to hide the slight amusement in his voice.

“YOU MAKE AN EXCELLENT TABLE.”

“you have a desk, though.” Papyrus didn’t respond to that, the two stayed that way for a while until Sans shifted the book off of him.

“... THIS MAKES YOU A WORSE TABLE.” Papyrus reached for the book, and Sans pulled it away with a hand, slowly turning over as he held the book out of Papyrus’s reach.

“heh, good.”

“SAAANS. STOOOP.” Sans switched hands, and Papyrus lunged for it, throwing them both off the bed. They hit the ground a little hard- enough that Gaster was able to hear them. Sans took the chance to stand up, quickly moving out the door before Papyrus could catch him and took a shortcut.

Needless to say Papyrus was not amused. He pounded down the stairs, looking everywhere, occasionally hearing a misleading chuckle. Eventually, all the commotion was enough for Gaster to come inside from his office to yell at them.

“BOYS!” Everything in the house stopped, Sans even reappeared, puzzle book in hand. Gaster just stared at them until Sans handed the book back. {I told you to behave,} He said with a long sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.  _ Lab rats behave better than them, and they had pea sized brains _ . {I’ll come back in in a few hours to make lunch, do try to keep it down.}

“sorry.” Sans got out before Gaster left back to return to his study. “heh, oops.” Sans tried to make light of it but he felt a pit in his stomach knowing he’d disappointed Gaster- Papyrus just laughed it off and sat on the couch, only slightly out of breath. Sans watched as Gaster left, only staring at the door for a moment as he let the dread go through him.  _ so much for asking to help out...  _ He sighed deeply before plopping down next to his brother in slight resignation. Helping out Gaster was something Sans was recruited to do a lot, but only when it was something Gaster genuinely thought he could be useful with, and never at a time that was convenient to Sans. It contributed a lot to his midday napping, and several school detentions. The midnight science sessions were more common than Gaster might have realized.

“Nyeh heh heh, no hiding from dad!” Papyrus turned back to his puzzles with a bright red crayon, prompting a scoff from his brother before Sans followed in suit and dropping down beside him.

“i could hide from dad no problem.” Sans’s pride felt a bit injured at Papyrus’s implication, after all he was the best hider, and he pouted slightly before leaning against Papyrus.

“But you wouldn’t.”

“i definitely could.”

“BUT! You wouldn’t!”

“i could.”

“MAYBE! BUT! You wouldn’t.” He grinned broadly as Sans’s head fell into his lap in resignation, _ an effective logical checkmate! _ he thought with pride before placing his puzzles on Sans’s face again. The boy let out a sigh, ruffling the pages of Papyrus’s puzzle book before being reminded of his own schoolwork,

“have you done the homework yet?”

“OF COURSE! I always do the homework when we get home on Friday.” Papyrus proudly smoothed out the ruffled pages before working on the puzzle again.

“oh, right.” Sans paused, frowning slightly under the pages, “how do you have time for that  _ and _ time to train with dad?”

“Because! I’m not always napping like you!”

“heh, yeah. i swear, you two never sleep.” Sans let the comfortable quiet between them sink in. Papyrus was very focused in his puzzles, getting lost in them as thoroughly as Sans was losing himself in his thoughts.

Sans often spent time in his thoughts considering his father’s projects, or, well, what he knew of them. Which wasn’t much. It bothered him that he was left out of the loop, curiosity too often getting the better of him. Gaster was a private man, he didn’t mean anything personal by it, but for Sans, feeling useful was what he lived for. It was the only way to get on their dad’s good side, taking interest in what the man himself enjoyed. He frowned, speaking suddenly,

“do you ever help dad out in the lab?” Sans asked with genuine curiosity. He knew the two spent time together, but it was usually to train his brother’s magic.

“Why do you ask?” Papyrus lifted the book from Sans’s face to try and read his expression. It was a bit out of character for his brother. He shrugged the best he could while laying on the other,

“i don’t know, i don’t get to help much, so...” he train of thought stalled, “i was... just curious.” Sans felt silly all of a sudden. He wasn’t the jealous type, where had that come from? Papyrus’s grin softened, and Sans was reminded again how emotionally attuned his brother could be at times.

“Are you-”

“don’t!” Sans interrupted him, immediately regretting it when his brother gave him a slightly hurt frown. They sat in a less comfortable silence for an hour or so more, Sans dozing in and out of sleep for a while, occasionally Papyrus would shift his position and jolt him awake again. Eventually he just resigned himself to being awake, and started a different conversation,

“what’s it like to use magic?” He must have surprised his brother, it wasn’t too far out of reach to think he may have fallen to sleep for good. It didn’t take long for him to formulate a response,

“Pretty great!! That COULD just be because my magic is super cool, though!” Papyrus paused, frowning a bit, “Why do you ask, brother?”

“mm, just wondering. i can’t use magic yet, so...” Sans let the sentence die out and gave a half shrug, Papyrus lit up.

“Maybe you could!”

“well, yeah, eventually.”

“No, I mean now! I bet if we fused-” Papyrus was interrupted by a long groan from his brother. He pouted, “Sans! It’ll be fun, come on!” Papyrus sat his puzzles to the side and stood, lifting his brother up with him. There wasn’t a very significant size difference yet, so it was a bit awkward, especially because Sans just fell limp in spite. Papyrus set him down and waited until Sans stood patiently, trying not to betray his excitement(and failing miserably).

Their souls glowed, contrasting each other in color: blue and orange. The glowing came with an odd warmth as their magic merged and passed back and forth between them. With a strong surge, the souls popped from their respective chests. The feeling was comforting and calming, and even Sans who had previously been worried was relaxed as their souls merged together delicately. A stronger glow filled the room, and their physical forms disintegrated to light before reforming into Comic Papyrus.

The newly formed boy let out a few bubbles of laughter, it was the first time he was formed intentionally and he felt... stable. And relaxed. He stretched, testing his form before walking about the house. With his gained height everything seemed a bit different, and he felt a push from Papyrus to try and use magic.

_ Oh, right! Sans wanted to know how it feels...  _ Comic Papyrus recalled Papyrus’s distant memories and let himself use those as reference. He started simple, just a few bones should do the trick! With a deep breath he concentrated on his magic and the air crackled sharply around him. His form seemed conflicted, until all at once bones surged out around him, hitting everything in the room from furniture to Papyrus’s puzzle book. With an unfortunately loud crack. Comic Papyrus went stiff in fear,  _ oh no _ , he thought,  _ That certainly was not a good sound. _ He heard Gaster before saw him, somehow their father was able to make stomping sounds even in the thick snow throughout the town.

“I can’t leave you boys alone for one second! I- oh.” Gaster stopped in his tracks as he observed the nervous wreck of Comic Papyrus in front of him.

“Err- I’m really sorry!!! It was a mistake, I swear. Just, Sans wanted to know what magic was like so we fused and it’s a lot harder to-” Gaster held up a hand for Comic Papyrus to stop, and he did quite abruptly.

{It’s fine. We can worry about it later.} He signed clearly, observing the boy in front of him.  _ Comic Papyrus... geez what a mouth full, we should shorten that _ , Gaster considered as he observed the physical form of his two sons. He was taller than either of his boys, bulkier too. Comic Papyrus resembled Gaster far more than Papyrus or Sans did by themselves. Unlike previous formations Comic Papyrus actual had a more put together outfit as well, instead of a weird mod podge of colors and styles Sans and Papyrus had on before forming. A bright orange hoodie with blue accents, Sans’s slippers, Papyrus’s jeans. He stood there nervously as their dad watched him, Papyrus doing his best to quell Sans’s worries all the while.

{Did you do this?} Gaster signed as he ran his fingers over the burned and slightly indented marks on the walls, clearly in bone shapes,

“Uhm, y-yeah, it was an accident, though.” Comic Papyrus stuttered through his sentence, and Gaster looked to him in amusement before standing up straight again.

{Well, I guess this calls for a lunch break. Besides, it's easier to feed two monsters than three.} Gaster gave the boy a calm smile that was quickly returned with a boisterous grin. He walked into the kitchen with Comic Papyrus trailing behind and headed to the fridge to consider their options. It wasn’t until he turned back around that he understood the silence from his son. Comic Papyrus stood behind where Sans and Papyrus sat at the table, glancing between the seats with confliction. Gaster couldn’t help but laugh, shocking Comic Papyrus into looking up.

“What?” He asked innocently, before deciding on the seat across from Gaster- Papyrus’s- and sitting down.

{Nothing, nothing.} He turned back to begin cooking up Papyrus’s favorite, spaghetti, and by habit placed a bottle of ketchup on the table. Comic Papyrus reached for it instinctively, but hesitated to bring it to his mouth.  _ This ought to be interesting,  _ Gaster thought as he kept an eye on his son. The Sans half must have won out because he squeezed the bottle straight into his mouth and swallowed, only to shiver and make a slightly disgusted face.

“... Huh.” He continued drinking it, turning his nose up after each swallow as if the concept of it disgusted him- just not enough to stop. Gaster hummed with amusement before turning back to the boiling noodles and warming red sauce. It didn’t take long to finish up the preparations and Comic Papyrus was done with the bottle of ketchup by the time the plate was laid in front of him and he began eating like it was his last meal. Gaster sat to eat his own helping, considering his son before him.

“What about... CP? No that sounds like a science experiment...” Gaster murmured, even if Comic Papyrus was technically a science experiment he didn’t want his boys to sound like one. A thought occurred to him as Comic Papyrus looked up, “How do you like ‘Cap’?” Comic Papyrus blinked at him,

“Yeah, I guess that works.” He smiled half heartedly, he preferred his full name but Cap was fine for a shortened version. Gaster lit up in pride, and the two ate the rest of the lunch in relative quiet.

{Do you want to help me in the after lunch?} Gaster signed to break the silence, and Cap’s grin brightened at the thought. It was rare that Gaster allowed such a thing for Papyrus or Sans, even if it was more common for the latter. Their dad was a work-alone kind of guy, even if he did technically have assistants.

“Yeah!” He responded in glee, wondering if Gaster meant the lab at home or going into the royal scientist office. The two pondered their own questions before Gaster stood and washed out their plates. Cap ate more than what Papyrus and Sans usually ate combined, but that was fine. It wasn’t like they really needed the leftovers anyway.

{Hopefully it won’t be too busy in the lab. It is a weekend, afterall.} He signed, annoyed with the thought of sharing equipment. Gaster had numerous assistants and partners, and even if the lab was technically his as the official Royal Scientist, they all had free range of the equipment when they weren’t working on Asgore commissioned projects. With the recent completion of the core, most scientists were focused on personal projects. Both skeletons shuffled to the closet, Gaster tossing on a long black coat over his lab coat to brave the cold, Cap just awkwardly glanced between Sans and Papyrus’s coats. With a chuckle, Gaster handed him one of his old ones. It was far too long for the boy, he was tall but not nearly the almost 7 feet of his father, and the coat dragged behind him a bit. It was better than nothing.

“So what are you working on?” Cap began as they started walking in the direction of the Riverperson. Gaster glanced at him, trying to read if the curiosity was genuine, deciding it didn’t really matter because the boy would need to understand to help him anyway.

{Well, there are a few things that we could work on,} He paused in consideration, glancing to Cap’s chest where the dull glows of blue and orange were still visible. {I’m interested in your magic readings and general stats, but those can wait for another day.} Cap just nodded, his Sans and Papyrus offering their memories up of what those tests entailed. He found Sans’s memories more helpful here, curious in how Gaster actually explained the situation to him rather than the disinterest he expressed with Papyrus.

{However,} The signing brought Cap back to the moment, {I could really use a... competent assistant with my current research in magic types. Oddly enough scientists aren’t particularly good at using magic.} Gaster sneered at the remark, clearly annoyed with how previous trials had gone. He technically had access to the Royal Guard as well, but he’d be damned before he allowed the brutes into such a sensitive environment. Besides, it would also give Gaster some insight into what kinds of magic Cap could use.

“I don’t... I don’t know how much I can help with that.” Cap answered honestly, frowning. He didn’t have a great handle on his magic.

{Nonsense, you’ve already demonstrated more competence than the morons I work with.} Gaster waved the worries off. Cap frowned, uncertain, but shrugged, 

“okay.” The trip continued in relative silence, Gaster lost in consideration of the experiment to come. They made their to the lab and through the long, mostly abandoned, halls.  Cap had to speed up to keep pace with his father’s long legs while still trying to get a good grasp on their surroundings. He was effectively confused and lost by the time they made it to the elevator, they waited patiently. Gaster’s impatience grew, and his face scrunched up in response,

“... Who is using the elevator, good God.” Gaster murmured venomously under his breath, hitting the down button repeatedly in his impatience. Cap his his amusement, knowing it wouldn’t be helpful, and glanced up when an assistant walked by.

“Dr. Gaster?” The young scientist looked about Sans’s height, and quite nervous. The man turned to them, giving them a sharp look.

{Yes?}

“The- uhm. The elevator’s power was cut off for an experiment earlier today... did, did Dr. Fran not send you the memo?” The intern shrunk back as Gaster scoffed,

{No. She didn’t bother, thank you.} He practically stepped over the short creature on his way to the stairs. Cap followed, smiling apologetically and waving to the intern before turning to catch up with Gaster, who chuckled humorlessly, “You don’t have to pay attention to interns.” Cap blinked in confusion,

“I mean, I guess you don’t have to pay attention to anyone, so...” He followed the taller man down the, literally hundreds of, stairs. When they got to Gaster’s office, they entered a few doors to a more open spaced lab. Gaster locked the door behind them, and the room lit up with magic. Cap could feel the rush of magic, like wind running over his clothes and permeating every pore. He closed his eyes, only opening them when the feeling became normal- like a smell you grow used to after a few moments. Gaster was paying close attention to him, amused.

{You could sense that?} He signed after a moment, pulling up a chair. Cap responded with a simple nod. Gaster hummed to himself in thought, pulling out his note pad and writing a few quick notes, he didn’t look up to speak,

“I know I’ve taught Papyrus quite a bit about magic, but, it would probably be useful to go into further depth.” Cap perked up, interested. “There are several different subcategories of magic, identified by color.” He tapped his notes idly, before continuing, “Most monsters use simple white magic, all monsters can use this type,” Cap felt a strange sadness pull at his chest,  _ Must be Sans _ he thought absently before remembering to pay attention to Gaster again, missing part of the lecture, “-lue magic, green magic, orange magic, and potentially more. Hopefully, this experiment will bring some interest to the different types, how they react together, that sort of thing.” Cap nodded to indicate he was still paying attention.

“It’s hard to tell what all a monster can use just by normal magic, but there are tests for that. Papyrus will likely be able to use blue magic once he develops his skills better. You too, probably.” His expression changes for a moment, flashing an emotion he couldn’t recognize before straightening back into a neutral, small smile. Cap could feel Sans trying to connect the flash of emotion to anything, the experiment, their relationship, Cap and Gaster’s relationship, and more. Cap quickly cut him off before he could make any anxiety based conclusions.

“The room will record your magic usage, cameras will record your form. Why don’t you start with a simple bone attack?” Gaster stared at him expectantly.

“Uuhhh, ok.” Cap took a deep breath and mimicked the feeling from earlier, trying to summon the bones with less potency. He shot them outward, accidentally with more speed than he intended. It crackled through the air, reacting with the room’s magic before knocking against the wall and dispersing into the air. He looked back to Gaster, who was lazily scrawling in his notes. Gaster rolled his chair over to a control pad on the wall, tapping in a code followed by a few more decisive taps. The air seemed to shift, and Cap cocked his head to the side with the feeling.

{Again.} Cap shots a few more bone attacks, this time he shot several before Gaster turned back to the pad on the wall. They went through many shifts in the room, his attacks getting more precise with each shot. Just as he felt like he was getting the hang of it, the room let out a loud sound, like air decompressing.

“Oh, goddamnit. Not now.” Gaster stood, rapidly tapping at the room pad before groaning in annoyance. {Well, looks like we’re done for the night, kid.} Cap stretched, feeling a sense of relief. He wasn’t exactly tired yet, but he could go for a snack. Gaster glanced at his watched with widening eyes,

“Ohhh... It’s- uhm. Sorry, kid, it’s way past your bedtime..” He chuckled, tapping at the pad a few more times before the door unlocked and opened.

“What time is it?” Cap asked curiously, walking out with Gaster just behind him.

{1.}

“That’s not too-”

{In the morning.}

“Oh.” They stopped at Gaster’s office, the man took a seat at his desk before tossing Cap a bag of popato chisps. He eagerly tore into them, sitting on the floor beside Gaster’s desk.

{Do you mind if we stay a bit longer? I could use the time to review the tapes.} Gaster was already hard at work, only half of his attention was on Cap as he signed.

“Nah, anything I can help with?” Cap munched on the chisps one at a time, trying to savor the flavor. They always skimped on the vending machine bags. Gaster considered the question before shrugging,

{Probably not, but you can take a whack at some of these equations if you get bored.} He handed the boy a stack of papers, all scrawled out in wing dings. They weren’t anything that would take Gaster long to solve, but it was more a matter tedious tasks. He didn’t expect the barely eleven year old to be able to solve it, but that didn’t matter. Keep him busy.

Cap could feel Sans’s emotions flutter at the thought of a challenge, and Papyrus practically groan at the number soup in front of them. He began scanning over the equations, calling on Sans’s knowledge primarily to work it out. It took a little of getting into the mindset, but Sans had really done his research into these kinds of calculations. It helped that Papyrus’s outside perspective help give him a creative take on the problems, and he was done with the first page in less than an hour. With a proud grin, Cap looked it over before clearing his throat a bit,

“Uhh, dad?” Cap started a bit nervously, Gaster hummed in response, only glancing up when Cap set the page on his desk. He blinked,

“You finished?”

“Uh, yeah! I checked it over but you probably want to again just to be sure.” Cap rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as Gaster dropped what he was doing to quickly check the calculations. They were... correct? He leaned back in his chair, a smile slowly growing on his face as he rubbed at his chin.

“Interesting...” He mumbled to himself. “Good work. I didn’t expect you to be able to do this.” Cap positively beamed at the praise.

The two didn’t make it home in three days, neither having more than an occasional power nap during that time. Cap was left to do the simple calculations, significantly speeding up Gaster’s work in that time. Oddly enough, as the third day came to an end, he felt Sans and Papyrus’s decisions splitting.

_ You of all people know we need sleep. _

_ but we’re making such good progress- dad has never been this happy with us! _

_ Sans. We can’t take much more of this. Our hp will start depleting. _

_ worth it. _

_ No it’s not. Nothing is worth our health! How will we train? _

_ paps- _

_ Sans- _

Gaster watched Cap’s emotions flicker with discomfort and conflict. The boy let out a long sigh and laid his head down on the stolen intern desk he was told to call his own.

“Cap, are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just- oh.” And with that, Gaster had two sons before him again. Both falling from the chair with less grace than usual. Each boy frowned, mirroring each other as they rubbed at their heads. Gaster let out a huff of annoyance.

“I guess that means we can take a break.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm debating whether or not to add a third installment to this. Let me know, I have a few ideas but this also was a pretty good stopping place for the fic so who knows.
> 
> As always kudos bookmarks and comments fill me with joy, so if you liked it let me know!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading<3 Kudos and comments keep me going!  
> Check me out on tumblr! undertaletrashbin.tumblr.com


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